Paradise...

..is where I have been this weekend. All the study abroad students (thats right, all 300ish of us) went to Ein El Sukna, a resort on the Red Sea, for 2 days. Everything was beautiful & the food was delicious, even though everything to do with ISSO (international student services office) was horrifically disorganized. We were supposed to be on campus by 8:30 Friday morning to leave by 9. We finally got moving around 10, & then had to wait another 20minutes while most of our 10 buses filled up on gas. It was completely ridiculous and I was so frustrated. We arrived safely though, & were told that instead of hanging out on the beach for most of the afternoon, we were going to be talked at about our "Worries and Concerns" by the wonderful Tomader Rifaat.

Tomader needs some explaining, because she is a source of constant fascination among us international students. She is the director of ISSO, & is more than a little bit insane. She's probably in her fifties, & wears more makeup on her face each day than I have ever worn collectively in my life (excluding theatre/dance stuff). She smokes like a chimney, & can always be seen outside ISSO events shrouded in smoke & talking rapid-fire Arabic into her Louis Vuitton - covered cell phone, while barking instructions at any Friend of International Students person who foolishly asks her a question. Tomader also has a habit of presenting critical information (like how to apply for a student visa) in the most confusing way possible, then badgering us into asking questions, & then bitching out/dismissing/just not answering any question you dare ask. She is completely fascinating. Eventually, there will be a post of Tomader quotes, because they're priceless.

Back to Ein Sukna .... we get there & she gives a useless presentation thats supposed to assuage our worries and concerns about being in Egypt. Because she's Tomader, it only makes them worse. Then there was actually a shockingly useful session on colloquial Egyptian Arabic (amiya). we got a whole packet of vocab, so that should certainly help cut down on the laughter/blank stares that greet me when I try to use my Modern Standard Arabic (fos-ha) which is kind of like Shakespearean English.
After far too much sitting inside, we were let loose to have lunch, check into our rooms (a whole other fiasco only marginally worse than the buses which I will not go into) & finally get onto the beach. It was beautiful & so surreal to be swimming in the sea that Moses supposedly parted, with absolutely nothing to do. It also felt incredibly nice to bare my shoulders to the sun! I managed to get nicely tan without burning, which is more than I can say for some of the other students - poor Erin is almost totally beet red. Ouch. :-)

Friday night we went to a disco at the hotel and danced the night away to a strange combination of arabic techno and american hip-hop/pop hits. It was pretty peculiar. The highlight of the dancing was the presence of a lurking man in a black Armani muscle shirt. I later discovered that he was Egyptian-Italian, so he immediately had to be one of the smarmiest of men ever. Naturally, he wanted to dance with me, which despite my low opinion of him wasnt too bad - thankfully, touching anywhere other than the hands and occasionally the waste is very scandalous, so the worst part was just that his super-sweaty shoulder didnt have a sleeve to protect me from it. My friend from AU in DC Meghan did an amazing "hey I want to dance with you because ohmygod we LOVE this song!" save after the previous song ended, but icky-Armani-man didnt get the picture & continued to lurk. Eventually some of the FIS kids said something to him and he magically vanished. I have no idea what was said, but boy is it useful having people looking out for you who speak perfect amiya!

We kept dancing til almost 3am, & then crashed into bed for 2 hours before waking up to watch the sun rise over the Red Sea. All the sleep deprivation was completely worth it - it was one of the most awe-inspiring things I have ever seen. The pictures don't even do it justice. I suggest you watch a sunrise the next time you get the chance.

Then there was breakfast & beach/pool lounging, lunch, & forbidden pina coladas at the beach bar, & more beach/pool lounging, and then finally the bus ride home. I think it was the exhaustion, but I was so very grumpy when we got back into Cairo! I truly appreciated for the first time what everyone means when they say that this is the most chaotic city you will ever experience. I was just completely assaulted by the honking and the lights & the noise & the sheer number of cars & people that move through the streets all the time. It was pretty overwhelming, as so many things here are.
After a crazy cab ride back to the dorms I showered and collapsed into bed, and woke up at 7am for the trip to the pyramids. However, I went back to sleep for another hour, because the wonders of Egyptian food & water seem to have finally caught up with me & my body was very unhappy. Thankfully I felt okay enough to go eventually, so I hopped in a cab with some other girls who were running late & got to campus without incident.

the pyramids were just so unreal. There's really nothing to say about them, actually, because I can't think of words that will even come close to describing it all. I saw my first Egyptian camel, & had some funny experiences with Egyptian men looking for baksheesh (tips). They seemed to expend far more energy harassing people for money than they did actually doing something to earn that money. Kind of silly, if you ask me. The heat was also just incredible. I've been thinking it was hot in Cairo (at least 95 every day) but I didnt realize how relatively cool it was. All the trees & the buildings & the river really contribute to giving shelters from the heat, but at the pyramids - literally in the desert, although the city is certainly encroaching upon them - there is nowhere to hide. The heat is merciless, so we were all very glad to return to AUC at the end of the day. I think it was partly the heat/dehydration, but when we got back I felt even worse than I had in the morning ... I drank almost a liter of water, showered, and slept for a solid 13 hours. Needless to say, I feel much better now!
Sorry this was so wordy, but it was a pretty packed 3 days. I hope ISSO decides to take us more places. Disorganized & inefficient as it often is, it certainly makes for good memories!

PS, if anyone is actually reading this, please let me know, because I feel sort of silly at the moment....